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How that was different from, say, “knock it off” or “close the pie hole” is vague, but it did have a genteel sound from a more civil time.
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It’s probably something Brett Favre, being from down there in Mississippi with apparently not much to do, has heard before.
It’s time for him to hear it again in the courteous language he understands.
So, Brett, hush up now, you hear?
Bless Mark Tauscher’s Cheeser heart when he recently told our Greg Bedard, “I’m sure (Favre) loves playing, (but) he’s made his decision and we as a football team are ready to move forward. We’re not going to worry about all those speculations. We respect Brett. He was a great teammate. But this is Aaron Rodgers’ team right now.”
Twice now, Favre has rambled on about the possibly rejoining the Green Bay Packers, particularly in the event of a Rodgers injury. We were assured that Favre was speaking hypothetically. But, goodness gracious, as a Southerner like the erstwhile No. 4 might shout, enough is enough.
There’s no need to get into how beloved Favre was and how much he’ll be missed, because all that was chronicled nationwide in the days after his retirement. But there comes a point in every walk of life when it’s time to move on. That time came when Favre got on that private jet back to Hattiesburg, presumably never to return until the Packers retire his number this fall.
A psychologist friend once explained Favre’s compulsive need to publicly speak, and you give him that because it is apparently therapeutic. It has to be hard, really hard, to give up the one thing you did better than just about anybody else on the planet, and occasionally it is healthy to vent.
But then there’s this: “It was a fun year. That was fun, throwing the ball around like we did,” Favre recently told the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun-Herald. “There’s no reason to think that won’t happen again. Aaron has fallen into a great situation. And if that opportunity presented itself and they did call, it would be tempting. And I very well could be enticed to do it.”
That crosses the line of infringing upon others. It can’t help Rodgers because, as the right tackle so rightly said, this is his team now. It can’t help those fans who have a particularly hard time letting go of the delusion that Favre will be back. And it has to drive Mark Murphy, Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy slightly nuts.
Not saying that the Packers pushed Favre out the door, but Rodgers is Thompson’s guy. Not saying this is a distraction for focused men like the general manager and the coach, but they were drawing up plays for Rodgers maybe even before the moment Favre told them he was done.
It’s not as if the Packers are going to trade Favre’s rights. And it’s not as if Favre really wants to play elsewhere. As a deterrent, he only has to recall Reggie White’s post-retirement season in Charlotte.
We could all be selfish and say, yeah, it’d be great to have Favre around for another year or two, but that’s not practical. Favre closed that door himself, and as hard as it might be for him not to occasionally knock, this isn’t exactly enriching his legacy.
